Akhi

Chicago, IL, United States

Posted

Nov 10 at 12:25 AM

ט‎ Tet - numeric value 9

In Modern Hebrew ט‎ is pronounced as T in English (less breathy though) or like T in Romance languages. In Aramaic ט‎ is pronounced similar to T but more in the center of your mouth, with the tongue forming like a cup against the edges of the roof of the mouth.

Modern Hebrew does not make a difference between ט‎ (Tet) and ת (Tau) the last letter of the Hebrew/Aramaic alefbet (alphabet).

In Aramaic ט‎ (Tet) and ת (Tau) represent 2 different sounds, although sounding so similar, that an untrained ear might not capture the difference.

Posted

Nov 10 at 12:03 AM

ח khet - numeric value 8

ח is the first consonant that does not have an equivalent pronunciation in English. In Modern Hebrew, it is pronounced exactly the same as secondary pronunciation of Kaf (כ). In Aramaic ח is pronounced like a harsher H, something between H and the Modern Hebrew pronunciation of ח. Many languages have both the sound of ה (He) and Aramaic sound of ח (Khet) marked as the same letter H. They don't capture the slight sound difference between the two, by using a different letter, like Hebrew/Aramaic does.

Modern pronunciation of ח is very noticeable, as if somebody is clearing up their throat of phlegm. Such sound is found also in languages like Dutch or German. For example, in German the CH in Bach or Dach is pronounced as  ח in Modern Hebrew.

חי (Khai) in Hebrew means life. Eve in Hebrew is חוה (Khava). אחי (Akhi) in both Hebrew and Aramaic means My Brother.

Nov 09 at 05:50 PM

And YouTube says 1,2 should already be available here (I guess to subscribed members)

Posted

Nov 09 at 12:27 AM

ז - zayin letter, numeric value 7

ז is another "easy" letter for English and Romance language speakers. It is pronounced as Z in Zebra. This is a pretty straightforward letter, pronounced as Z in both Hebrew and Aramaic.

A common word in Hebrew that starts with Zayin is זה (ze). Which means this.  זה illustrates that in general final ה in Hebrew is not pronounced, it is just a "mothers of reading".

Posted

Nov 09 at 12:14 AM

ו  Waw / Vav consonant - numeric value 6

ו in Modern Hebrew is pronounced as V in victory.  In Aramaic it is pronounced as W in Waw.  As such, we have David in Hebrew but Dawid in Aramaic.

So now for V sound we have two letters in Modern Hebrew. ו and then ב, when pronounced with the secondary pronunciation.  As we continue, we will run into other letters that have the same pronunciation in Modern Hebrew.  But in Aramaic, and most probably also in Ancient Hebrew, each one of the 22 letters that make up the alefbet (alphabet) has a very distinct pronunciation. 

ו is used a lot in Hebrew and Aramaic to link sentences inside phrases.  In such situations it would normally be translated as and or many times simply omitted in translation. When used as such, ו merges with the first word in the next sentence. E.g.
יהי אור, ויהי אור (Yehi ohr, vayehi ohr), Light will be, and light was.

Nov 08 at 11:38 PM

Where is 1 and 2?